Faded plastics restoration technique?

Anybody have a good method for restoring the shine to oxidized plastics? I'm thinking stuff like headlight buckets, mirrors and side covers. The heat gun method looks nice, like the videos of using a weed burner on plastic stadium seats, but I don't know if all plastics can take this method. Or can they be sanded and buffed to achieve the same thing without the risk of meltdown?

 

I have used headlight polish on my tail lights to success.
Its basically a cutting compound & a Polish safe for plastics
they will oxidize again if you leave it outside but what I did last year in March on the XJ seems to have held.
My company (the group in Ohio) services an outdoor payment device that gets all scratched up in service. For the ones that are worth it they also use that same polish to clean them up.
Here is what we use:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002UCYRZU

I have seen videos of people who use a polishing wheel to polish up plastics as well. You have to pick the right rouge that is suitable for that. Home Depot has a 6 pack with the right stuff. I have not tried it yet.

I ceramic coated a car 2 years ago (lots of work) and still have some of the stuff and am curious to try it on some spare plastics and leave it outside to see if it helps.
Son totaled the car in August. It was garage kept and to wash it down, you needed no soap, but just spray with water and then dry cause water still would leave spots.

 

I've got a headlight kit somewhere on the shelf, so I could give that a try. Doing some more reading this afternoon about the ceramic coatings also, and ordered some wipes to try out. Probably test it out on an airbox....somewhere a mistake won't be highly visible.

 

I had a very sun faded KRL650 that I tried a head gun on. It does okay and will bring back some of the "wet" look to the plastic. It worked good on some of the parts but others needed to be sanded and painted to bring them back to life. I would not use a weed burner and only us a non flame source to work on the plastics. Good luck.

 

I’ve used the Novus plastic polish before with success, BUT I’ve never tried it on old Yamaha plastic.

https://www.amazon.com/NOVUS-PK1-8-Plastic-Scratch-Remover-Bottles/dp/B002UCYRZU/ref=sr_1_9?crid=23GA60XM7QGWZ&keywords=plastic+polishing+kit&qid=1702050564&sprefix=Plastic+polish,aps,418&sr=8-9


I’ve also used Turtle wax headlight restorer & sealant with success on headlights and other smooth plastics. (Haven’t tried it on the old Yamaha parts yet)

https://www.amazon.com/Turtle-Wax-Headlight-Cleaner-Sealant/dp/B00A9T28S4/ref=sr_1_3?crid=1UFAG4ECPESZ3&keywords=Headlight+polish+turtle&qid=1702050705&sprefix=headlight+polish+turtle,aps,341&sr=8-3



Between these two, I’m usually able to improve the look of plastics. I also have a Flex forced rotation DA buffer that helps a lot.

 

I"m bombarded with this wipe on faded plastic restoration pages on Facebook.
I'd be happy to try it but Facebook has been running so many sketchy advertisors, I'm more afraid I would not get the product as well as have my CC data stolen

 

The stuff I ended up getting is Cerakote Ceramic trim coat restoration kit. Its a box of 10 individually sealed wipes for $18. I need to clear a couple other things off the bench first, but I'll post some pictures when I try it.

 

We need before and after pics pls.

 

Here's what I tried....two different products. Cerakote ceramic stuff that comes in individual wipes, and Meguiar's Ultimate Black, which is a cream more similar to traditional Armor All or similar products.



The Cerakote contains "ambient temperature curable refractory resin". I think that's saying it's an actual coating akin to a urethane top coat on paint. The graphic on the box shows the magic molecules filling in holes and creating a smooth top surface. Opening the individual wipe pouches hits you with a strong ammonia odor. One wipe was enough to do the two airbox trim pieces, the airbox and cover and a chain box. When dry, it maintains a wet look but there's no oily feel to it. Here's a before and after.





The airbox trim pieces were pretty badly sun faded and chalky. The black didn't come back as well as I'd hoped, but the surface really does look good. Areas on the airbox that weren't already discolored did come back to looking nearly new. The box says this treatment will last 200 washes. With the frequency I wash vehicles, that's well over a century. Seems like good stuff. Definitely won't undo 40 years of sun damage.

The Meguiar's is more typical polish containing "light aromatic hydrocarbons" and a few other multisyllabic ingredients. I tried it on a mirror that was nasty, nasty, nasty. Very chalky. Something that I'd considered tossing to be honest. After a few treatments I was surprised at how well it did. The chalky surface is still there, but it seemed to soak in and definitely blackened it up. Despite the "black" in the product name, this isn't a dye and is made for any plastic, vinyl and rubber. The cream itself is white. Here's the mirror with its twin and also an old bucket that I treated only half of it. The bucket has some kind of paint or glue stain on the top that I couldn't scrub off.





The Meguiar's says to retreat every two weeks. From the results here, I'd say for really faded, damaged stuff I'll use the Meguiar's, even if it means more frequent treatments. If I had some plastics in pretty good shape, the Cerakote looks like it would keep them that way for a long time.

 

Heck, if I'm going to need to retreat it every two weeks I'd just put some silicone spray on a rag and rub it on there and save my money for NOS replacements if looks are that important!

 

The Meguiar's is fairly cheap. Probably comparable to a can of silicone spray. You could probably use WD40 or goose grease and get some improvement on old plastic. A lot of these parts just aren't available NOS, and I probably wouldn't want to spend the money unless I was building a show bike. I figure a few bucks and some cheap labor is a reasonable investment on an antique bike. I was hoping the ceramic stuff would be some miracle cure, but clearly it wasn't.

 

How about a spray paint that adheres to plastic, like Krylon Fusion? I've never tried it personally but have seen it on side covers and it looked pretty good. Then there's Plasti-Dip for about the same price which could easily be removed if you don't like how it turns out.

 

I used plastic krylon on the faded cover that goes over the key switch and it looked great.
Once it gets past fading to the sun deterioration of the back of those side mirrors which are so bad, I'm for sanding and painting.
Basic fading of color w/o a change in surface finish even painting is good but those wipes did a decent job on the mirrors to the point that is should do well for simple fading.

 

I've used this with great results. I might have some pics but its great and works well if you follow the instructions.

https://www.eastwood.com/ew-plastic-resurfacer-matte-black-aerosol.html

 

I’ve had excellent luck with SEM brand spray paints.
They sell one called “trim black” which is likely very similar to this product. It’s pricey stuff but it’s what the pro’s use.

https://semproducts.com/product/trim-black/black

 

I have to agree with the above when it comes to painting them. If you have to keep retreating the covers to keep them looking good, then I would take the time and spend the money to paint them so they look good longer. That and ease of cleaning and maintaining the looks of the bike.

Keep posting them pics as your project continues and let us know how the work is going.